One month to go: are you Show Ready?

If you are holding a summer show this year, you've got about a month until your dancers hit the stage!

Now is the time to pull everything together, so here's your next set of priorities:

1. Rehearsals: Time to switch to full or part runs. Remember that everyone's movements between routines are just as important as what they do on stage. Rehearse changeovers and any quick changes to make everything really slick. If everyone knows the routine, now's the time to add polish!

2. Mark out your stage: It's a really good idea to mark out your stage on the floor. Use electrical tape (peels off easily and doesn't leave a mark), or even just a chair in each corner. This makes it so much easier to sort spacing and everyone can see where they should be. Getting to grips with this now means you shouldn't have any surprises when you arrive in the venue!

3. Costumes: Balance payments become due, so make sure you have collected show fees and costume fees if you are charging them. Add names to all your costumes to make things easy and so you can check you haven't missed anyone! Create a clear costume list for each number and each dressing room.

4. Music & Tech: Your music edits should be finalised. Create your cue list and confirm lighting/sound requirements with your tech team. If they aren't going to have much time for rehearsals, it's really handy to give them notes on each scene e.g. "dancers start off-stage, dark, moody with big build at end".

5. Backstage Prep: Lock in your backstage helpers and make sure everyone knows their roles. Create a clear show-day schedule with call times, running orders, contact numbers, etc. and make sure everyone knows exactly what they will be doing. The more prep you can do now (think lists of everything!), the easier it will be on the day.

6. Communication: Start writing your info for parents. Include details like when dancers need to arrive and where (be very specific), what they need to bring, how they need to have their hair, when and where they can be collected, etc. Think of questions you have been asked in the past by parents, and add these. You'll still get asked them, but at least you have tried!

7. Marketing Push: It’s promo time — get those tickets sold! Share snippets of rehearsals and other behind-the-scenes content and keep the excitement high! A lot of our customers like to share pictures of our costumes arriving — a studio full of our costume bags looks great on your socials and is a nice subtle reminder to your customers of all the effort you put in that they don't see...

8. Extras: Ordering flowers, gifts for your helpers, printing show programmes, or planning a post-show celebration? Now’s the moment.

9. Post-show: Although it is boring and certainly not glamorous, what you do after the show is just as important as what you do in the run up. Block out your diary for the day after the show and arrange some willing volunteers to help you tidy everything up, organise everything together and return everything that needs to be returned. At the end of the day, post to your socials thanking everyone that helped and took part, and share some pictures of the show.

You’re nearly there — one final push and it’ll all come together beautifully.

Let’s make this show unforgettable!